The influence of personality traits on university performance: Evidence from Italian freshmen students
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Corazzini L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8565773 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:This article allows consulting the performance data of 96 Spanish university students in two personality questionnaires and two theory of mind (ToM) tasks. Personality dimensions were evaluated through the OPERAS questionnaire (Vigil-Colet et al., 2013) [1], which evaluates global personality through 5 scales: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, and the ESQUIZO-Q questionnaire (Fonseca-Pedrero et al., 2010) [2], which assesses schizotypy by means of 10 subscales: ideas of reference, magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, odd thinking and language, paranoid ideation, physical anhedonia, social anhedonia, odd behavior, lack of close friends, and excessive social anxiety. The ability to attribute/infer mental states, i.e. ToM, was measured through two computerized tasks: the revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes (Baron-Cohen et al., 1997, 2001) [3], [4], and the Director's task (Keysar et al., 2000, 2003; Dumontheil et al., 2010) [5-7].
| S-EPMC5582375 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-BSST523 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundProcrastination is a psychological trait that causes individuals to put off doing things that need to be done. It has recently shown to result in the worsening of symptoms due to delays in seeking medical care. However, it is not clear how perception of dental disease influences dental visits. This study examined the associations of procrastination and personality traits with delayed dental visits for both acute and chronic conditions.MethodsOf 599 university students queried, the data of 549 subjects (mean age 19.7 years) were analyzed. A general procrastination scale (GPS), the Big Five personality traits, and oral hygiene habits were used for analysis. The participants were asked about illness awareness conditions related to dental disease, perception of pain in the oral region due to acute oral symptoms and chronic symptoms. The participants were asked the number of days until they decided that treatment was required. Based on the bimodal shape of the distribution, those who answered at least eight days for acute or chronic conditions were classified as the procrastination (P) group and the others as the non-procrastination (Non-P) group.ResultsSignificant differences in GPS scores were found between the groups for both acute and chronic conditions, with significant differences in the Big Five traits of extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism for an acute condition and extraversion, openness, and neuroticism for a chronic condition. There were no significant differences regarding oral hygiene habits between the groups for either condition. Next, using a Bayesian network, the probabilistic causal relations among procrastination, the Big Five traits, and delays in dental visits for both acute and chronic conditions were analyzed. Among the Big Five traits, conscientiousness and neuroticism were directly related to GPS score. Interestingly, agreeableness was directly related to delays in dental visits only for an acute condition and showed a negative effect, while dental student status had a positive effect on delays in dental visits.ConclusionsThe results showed that procrastination and dentistry department are factors that directly influence delays in dental visits, while agreeableness, a Big Five trait, has a negative effect on individuals with an acute condition.
| S-EPMC10538028 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Foreign (second) language (FL/SL) proficiency is one of the most important competencies for a modern person, and is necessary for both professional and personal fulfillment. The purpose of this study is to consider and compare personality traits and creativity as predictors of success in foreign language acquisition (FLA). The sample includes 128 (105 female and 23 male) first- and second-year university linguistics students. Creativity is measured by the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA). The FFM personality traits are measured by the Russian NEO Five-Factor Inventory adaptation by S. Biryukov and M. Bodunov. To assess the level of FL proficiency, we used a traditional academic achievement indicator (the semester's final grades in English), as well as the English teachers' assessment of the level of language proficiency of their students according to the "Foreign Language Proficiency Scale" (10 indicators and total score). Descriptive statistics methods and a multiple regression analysis were used to process the data in the R software environment, version 3.5.2. The findings of our research showed that creativity indicators have a stronger but contradictory impact on the level of FL proficiency compared to personality traits. We suggest that teachers, most likely, lack knowledge on the manifestations of student creativity in the process of FL learning.
| S-EPMC7016726 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE:The autism susceptibility candidate 2 (AUTS2) gene has been implicated in multiple neurological disorders. Several recent studies have revealed that the polymorphism rs6943555 in the AUTS2 gene is broadly associated with human mental function and behavior. Therefore, in the present study we investigated whether the polymorphism rs6943555 is associated with human personality traits in Japanese university students. In addition, our previous study reported that the AUTS2 rs6943555-rs9886351 haplotype is associated with alcohol dependence. As a preliminary analysis, we also examined whether the AUTS2 haplotypes are related to personality traits. METHODS:After written informed consent had been obtained from the participants, two AUTS2 polymorphisms were analyzed, and personality was assessed using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) in 190 university students. In addition, in order to exclude the influence of the results for students with mental health problems, we gave the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to all subjects. RESULTS:In all the subjects, there was a main effect of the polymorphism rs6943555 genotype on reward dependence (p=0.038) and cooperativeness (p=0.031), although the significance was lost on Bonferroni correction. Similarly, on analysis that excluded the subjects with PHQ-9 scores?10, no significant association with any TCI dimension score among the rs6943555 genotypes was seen. There was no effect of the rs6943555-rs9886351 haplotypes on the TCI dimension scores. CONCLUSION:This study suggests that the polymorphism AUTS2 rs6943555 is not associated with personality traits. Further large-scale studies with more subjects using other self-report questionnaires are needed.
| S-EPMC5639138 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Human personality (i.e., temperament and character) is a complex trait related to mental health, influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Despite the efforts performed during the past decades, its genetic background is only just beginning to be identified. With the aim of dissecting the genetic basis of temperament, we performed a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) on Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory in 587 individuals belonging to different Italian genetic isolates. Data analysis led to the identification of four new genes associated with different temperament scales, such as Novelty Seeking (NS), Harm Avoidance (HA), and Reward Dependence (RD). In detail, we identified suggestive and significant associations between: MAGI2 (highest p-value = 9.14 × 10-8), a gene already associated with schizophrenia and depressive disorder, and the NS-Extravagance scale; CALCB (highest p-value = 4.34 × 10-6), a gene likely involved in the behavioral evolution from wild wolf to domestic dog, and the NS-Disorderliness scale; BTBD3 (highest p-value = 2.152 × 10-8), a gene already linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the HA-Fatigability scale; PRKN (highest p-value = 8.27 × 10-9), a gene described for early onset Parkinson's disease, and the RD scale. Our work provides new relevant insights into the genetics of temperament, helping to elucidate the molecular basis of psychiatric disorders.
| S-EPMC8774962 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The awareness of citizens concerning the health risks caused by environmental pollution is growing, but studies on determinants of pro-environmental behaviors have rarely examined health-related aspects. In this study, we investigated these determinants using data from a large survey among Italian university students (15 Universities: 4778 filled questionnaires). Besides the health-related aspects, represented by environmental health risk perception and functional health literacy, we considered social and demographic characteristics (gender, area of residence, sources of information, trust in institutional and non-institutional subjects, and students' capacity of positive actions, indicated as internal locus of control). The attitudes towards pro-environmental behaviors were positive for more than 70% of students and positively related with health risk perception, internal locus of control, and health literacy. The correspondence between the positive attitudes towards pro-environmental behaviors and the real adoption of such behaviors was approximately 20% for most behaviors, except for the separate collection of waste (60%). Such a discrepancy can be attributable to external obstacles (i.e., lack of time, costs, lack of support). The health-related aspects were linked to the pro-environmental attitudes, but to a lesser extent to pro-environmental behaviors, owing to the complexity of their determinants. However, they should be taken in account in planning education interventions.
| S-EPMC8004768 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionRecent estimates suggest that there is a substantial number of Japanese students with developmental disabilities. This study aimed to examine potential associations between autistic, autistic subcomponents, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits with student performance (as measured by presenteeism) and class attendance among Japanese university students.MethodsParticipants comprised 721 students from different regions of Japan who completed a self-administered internet survey. Autistic and ADHD traits were measured using an abridged version of the autism spectrum quotient (AQ-Short) and adult ADHD self-report scale (ASRS). Presenteeism, which is an indicator of student performance, was assessed using the modified World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire. Class attendance during the past year was self-reported by participants.ResultsStudents with high levels of autistic traits and high levels of ADHD traits were significantly more likely to report poor student performance (odds ratio [OR] = 3.07, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.90-4.96; and OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.32-3.42, respectively). Regarding autistic trait subcomponents, students with high levels of preference for routine (OR = 2.39, 95% CI: 1.38-4.13) and high levels of difficulties with social skills (OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.03-3.18) were also significantly more likely to report poor student performance. There were borderline significant associations between traits of attention-switching difficulties and poor student performance (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.00-3.15). Regarding ADHD trait subcomponents, students with high levels of inattention (OR = 2.88, 95% CI: 1.32-6.26) were also significantly more likely to report poor student performance. Students with both high levels of autistic traits and high levels of ADHD traits were more likely to report poor student performance than those with high levels of only one trait type. There were, however, no statistically significant associations between these traits and low class attendance risk.ConclusionsSickness presenteeism was significantly associated with high levels of both autistic traits and ADHD traits among Japanese university students.
| S-EPMC7590390 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesThe main purpose of the current study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the University Stress Scale (USS) among Italian medical students.Design, setting and participantsA cross-sectional observational study based on data from an online cross-sectional survey from 11 to 23 December 2018. A total of 1858 Italian medical students participated in the study.Outcome measuresWe measured perceived stress among medical students using the USS, the Effort-Reward Imbalance Student Questionnaire (ERI-SQ) and the Kessler-10 (K10).ResultsResults showed that a bifactor-Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling solution provided excellent levels of fit to the data. Our results suggest that the modified version of 19 items of the Italian version of the USS does not have a simple unidimensional structure. Overall, an inspection of ancillary indices (omega indices, ECV and percentage of uncontaminated correlations) revealed that these were too low to suggest the use of the USS as a composite measure of university stress. We tested an alternative unidimensional short form (eight items; USS-S) that assessed all the five sources of stress. This version provided a good fit to the data. Evidence of convergent validity of the USS-S was observed by analysing the correlations between the USS and ERI-SQ (ranging from -0.34 to 0.37, all p<0.01). Finally, based on the clinical cut-off recommended on the K10, results from receiver operating characteristic showed that considering the clinical cut-off of the USS is 7.5 and that 59.70% of medical students reported stress levels in the clinical range.ConclusionFinally, our results showed a lack of support for using the USS to measure a general university stress factor, as the general USS factor accounted for little variance in our sample. In this sense, stress scores among Italian students can be better assessed by the use of the USS-S.
| S-EPMC7467511 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although there is consensus about the importance of students' satisfaction with their academic studies as one facet of academic success, little is known about the determinants of this significant outcome variable. Past research rarely investigated the predictive power of multiple predictors simultaneously. Hence, we examined how demographic variables, personality, cognitive and achievement-related variables (intelligence, academic achievement), as well as various motivational constructs were associated with three different dimensions of satisfaction (satisfaction with study content, satisfaction with the conditions of the academic program, satisfaction with the ability to cope with academic stress) assessed approximately 2 years apart. Analyzing data of a sample of university students (N = 620; M age = 20.77; SD age = 3.22) using structural equation modeling, our results underline the significance of personality and motivational variables: Neuroticism predicted satisfaction with academic studies, but its relevance varied between outcome dimensions. Regarding the predictive validity of motivational variables, the initial motivation for enrolling in a particular major was correlated with two dimensions of subsequent satisfaction with academic studies. In contrast, the predictive value of cognitive and achievement-related variables was relatively low, with academic achievement only related to satisfaction with the conditions of the academic program after controlling for the prior satisfaction level.
| S-EPMC4754397 | biostudies-literature